{"product_id":"2940013758070","title":"Fools' Harvest","description":"\"And were there really shops full of lollies and toys once upon a time,\u003cbr\u003eUncle Wally?\" Rex asked dubiously.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Plenty of them, towhead,\" I told him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe raised his head from my shoulder against which he had been snuggling,\u003cbr\u003eand turned for confirmation of the amazing statement to Lynda. As such an\u003cbr\u003eidea belonged to the realms of fairy tales in his mind, his appeal to his\u003cbr\u003emother was to unimpeachable authority.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLynda, looking up from her knitting, nodded her head and added, \"And\u003cbr\u003eperhaps we shall have them again sometime, darling.\" Then seeing the few\u003cbr\u003ewretched little sweets I had given him, she charged me with spoiling her\u003cbr\u003eson--unconscious of the pathos of the indictment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What's spoiling?\" He was at the age when every new word demanded\u003cbr\u003eelucidation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Something you, at least, will never suffer from,\" I told him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust then the long-drawn wail of a steam siren came from the mills by the\u003cbr\u003edistant wharf. To a thousand men it was a summons to another night of\u003cbr\u003etoil. Lynda put aside her knitting and stood up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Eight o'clock, Rexy boy, bed time!\" She held out her hands. With an\u003cbr\u003eobedience that was part nature and part training, he slipped off my\u003cbr\u003eknees. He bestowed rather a sticky kiss, first on his father and then on\u003cbr\u003eme, And turned to his mother. Fergus and I watched them until Lynda\u003cbr\u003eclosed the door of the next room behind her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe sat staring at the smouldering heap of smoky coal slack on the hearth\u003cbr\u003ethat scarcely took the chill from the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI spoke my thoughts aloud. \"Spoiling him! Think of it, man! Half a dozen\u003cbr\u003emiserable little sweets one wouldn't have given to a beggar child a few\u003cbr\u003eyears ago! That's spoiling him! The tragedy of it!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFergus stirred uneasily in his creaking home-made chair. \"Luxury is\u003cbr\u003erelative, although we have only learned it lately,\" he said. \"But don't\u003cbr\u003elet it get you down, Wally.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But it does get me down!\" I retorted. \"I know you and Lynda have carved\u003cbr\u003eout some strange kind of paradise for yourselves in the common hell we\u003cbr\u003elive in, but I cannot help wondering what Rex and a few thousand kiddies\u003cbr\u003elike him will think when they are old enough to know what we have done to\u003cbr\u003ethem.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We?\" Fergus sounded argumentative.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, we! You, I and everyone else who survives. We asked for it, and got\u003cbr\u003eit. But it's so infernally unfair to them. Dash it, Fergus! it was their\u003cbr\u003eheritage more than ours.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That conscience of yours must be a nasty companion,\" Fergus grinned.\u003cbr\u003e\"Don't let it prod you, old boy. Be reasonable, and recognise that\u003cbr\u003eneither you nor I, personally, could have altered things one hair's\u003cbr\u003ebreadth. Kismet!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Kismet be blowed!\" I came back. \"I doubt if in another twenty years the\u003cbr\u003echildren who are growing up now will accept that explanation.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Arguing can't help us, Wally--or them.\" I knew he was trying to turn me\u003cbr\u003eoff the subject. It was a settled policy of both my sister and Fergus not\u003cbr\u003eto let me dwell on the works of the \"Paramount Power.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145829368048,"sku":"2940013758070","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013758070_p0.jpg?v=1763589879","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013758070","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}